As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it's creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as Roy Montgomery and Bruce Russell . New Zealand has always had its share of majestic mystery; piles of Western tourists drawn to the oblong island in search of beauty captured [...]
It's been over 30 years since Roy Montgomery's recorded debut -- the Pin Group's "Ambivalence" 45, issued as the first single on Flying Nun Records in 1981 -- and he remains as intriguing and understated a player as ever in New Zealand's subterranean avant-rock culture. With PG and subsequent outfits, like the Shallows and Dadamah, his guttural baritone and basic sturm-and-drang strum helped shape the inimitable post-punk of "the NZ sound," as popularized by Flying Nun and those associated with it. In the years since, he's collaborated with or released songs alongside noteworthy musicians and projects such as Bardo Pond [...]
Blah blah blah Coachella lineup blah blah blah…don't worry, you'll get my one-sentence review of all the acts sometime this week. Probably on one of my days off. First impression? There's actually a couple good bands playing this year! I said a couple…probably not more than five or six, though. In other news, go vote [...]
Hey guys, it's December! You know what that means - Year-End Lists! All across the Internet, bloggers as well as professional journalists are taking stock of their lives (and the lives of the people on whom they report) and using that stock to form the base of a writerly soup! Filled with commentaries and observations! [...]
Sundays suck when there's no Giants game to watch. RULES for uninitiated noobs: I give birth to a weekly Mix Tape to be deposited on your iPods or Zunes or Kingklangs or whatever the industry is currently pushing on you. Sometimes there will be themes that link all the songs together, other times I'll just [...]
It's hard to come across music as relaxed/contemplative as this. I'll leave it at that... Grouper - "Vessel" The track is off a split EP with Roy Montgomery. Related posts: Video: Pearl Jam's full set at Austin City Limits 2009 Just caught this over at PBS. In this ~intimate venue... Mad Decent's FREE GUCCI Mixtape Presented by Diplo's Mad Decent label, Free Gucci is a... My [...]
"...Gorgeous split release from Grouper and New Zealand's Roy Montgomery. The pairing is an inspired match, facing Montgomery's extended solo composition for guitar against four shorter tracks of spectral magick from Liz Harris. Starting with the Montgomery's 'Fantasia On A Theme By Sandy Bull (Slight Return)', we're soon enchanted by a long passage of jangly folk guitars, riffing on a droning raga imbued with the opiated drift of Durutti Column or like a more lo-fi devotion to the Takoma school of players. Liz Harris is in spellbinding form for the next four tracks, gliding from the frosted field recordings and [...]
Despite a few great singles and splits in 09, it feels like forever since we've had a real thick slice of Grouper to bite into. On this new split 123 , Liz Harris teams up with New Zealand's Roy Montgomery for a satisfying glimpse at what the Portland chanteuse is up to. Montgomery spills across Side A with a phased out variation of Sandy Bull's 'Fantasia on A Theme', hacking out 18 minutes of icy solo guitar musings. Grouper takes the B-Side with 4 tracks of her most concise [...]
First essential release of 2010: the new split 12" from Roy Montgomery and Grouper. Grouper's side features 3 gauzy, thoroughly beautiful/hypnotic new songs and a field recording, and the physical 12" (which may or may not already be sold out everywhere/try here) comes with an 11 x 11 silk-screened insert of one of Liz Harris' drawings. You'll also be able to purchase the release digitally here... click through for more...
* Roy Montgomery : Twilight Conversation (14.5 mb) | Rainshadow Near Christchurch (7.5 mb) From Scenes From The South Island : Drunken Fish Records : DFR-22 Well, all good things must come to an end, and this, our foray into New Zealand music will end (for the time being) with this master of impressionistic guitar orchestras, Roy Montgomery . Although Mr. Montgomery was already playing in bands in the 70's, the late 80's was where he really started to explore the [...]
Still having trouble with getting the www.audiversity.com address to work. Any interweb savvy people out there up to helping out? Also, I moved all old Music-versity posts over to Audiversity so all old links have been broken; not good really, but we're kinda starting anew, so fuck it. Lots of good music this week, still much more to come. Enjoy. Clinic - Tusk (mp3) - Visitations (Domino 2007) Clinic – Visitations [...]
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